Rhode Island governor says Iceland video may draw tourists

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island’s governor says people searching for Iceland online are finding her state instead because of a goof in its tourism video and she’s hoping they’ll visit.

The state’s tourism video has been mocked on social media for showing a prominent concert hall in Reykjavik (RAY’-kyuh-vik). Embarrassed state tourism officials quickly yanked the video off YouTube on Tuesday.

But Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo (ray-MAHN’-doh) looked on the bright side on Wednesday.

“Here’s the good news: Now when people go search for Iceland, they’re seeing Rhode Island. So maybe some people will come visit us, too,” she said with a laugh.

An editing company has taken responsibility for the mix-up. The state’s economic development agency, the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, said it shared the blame since it hired the vendor.

The Harpa concert hall and conference centre in Reykjavik had a little fun with the kerfuffle, tweeting “We look good in that video, right?”

The scrutiny of the video has led to the discovery of an error on a newly redesigned tourism website. The smallest state has less than 2 per cent of the nation’s historic landmarks, not the 20 per cent listed.

The Commerce Corporation said that the website referred to what is now an outdated statistic from its listings on the National Register of Historic Places. It says it’s updating the website.